


Girls' Day Out

by rosefox



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/F, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Femininity, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Height Differences, Shopping, cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 00:02:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12331497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosefox/pseuds/rosefox
Summary: "I'd kill for a decent manicure," Allura said. "Let's go find a salon, and then we can take ourselves shopping."





	Girls' Day Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aeiouna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeiouna/gifts).



> Thank you for an irresistible prompt, Aeiouna! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to write something.
> 
> Thanks to angelsaves for the beta!

The paladins were enjoying a rare day off from battle. Coran had needed to stock up on supplies, so he whisked them off to a large city on Malor, a lovely planet located in a densely populated star system far from Galra space. The peaceful, technologically advanced, and surprisingly humanoid Malori were quite familiar with visiting extraterrestrials and happy to offload organic waste that the castle's food replicators could transform into meals. (When Hunk learned that this was how the replicators worked, he stuck his fingers in his ears and hummed until Coran stopped talking about it.)

Allura opened a small cache of gemstones kept for just such an occasion and traded them for some of the local currency. She handed each of the paladins a paycard and a tablet connected to the city's information network. "You are _off duty_ ," she said firmly. "No fighting. No Galra. Go have _fun_."

Shiro, Lance, and Keith immediately headed for an air and land vehicle exhibition at the arena. Hunk made a beeline for Restaurant Row. Coran went on a tour with a local official who had lured him (and his funds) with the promise of fresh fruit and interesting mechanical devices. That left Allura and Pidge.

"I know what you want," Allura said, sitting down on the chair next to Pidge.

"You usually do," Pidge said absently. She was scrolling down the list of upcoming events. Nothing really grabbed her attention.

"You want a _dress_."

"W-what?" Pidge looked up, startled. "What do you mean?"

"Katie, love, has it ever occurred to you that you don't need to look like a boy anymore?"

"Oh." Pidge scratched her head, rumpling her already messy hair. "I guess I don't think much about how I look. We're too busy."

"Well, today we have nothing better to do than pamper ourselves," Allura said. "So if you do think about it, how do you want to look?"

"You're thinking of the photo, right? I dressed like a little girl back then. I don't want to do that now." Pidge smiled tentatively. "But... I wouldn't mind wearing a dress again. And I think I could probably use a proper haircut. Hunk does his best but he's not great with the scissors."

"And I'd kill for a decent manicure," Allura said. "Let's go find a salon, and then we can take ourselves shopping."

"It's really you taking me shopping," Pidge said. "It's your money."

Allura waved a hand. "We all share everything," she said. "The paycard is yours. Or if you must think of yourself as my employee, you've more than earned it."

"Oooh," Pidge said, "does that mean we're in a forbidden boss-employee romance?"

"A royal-commoner romance too. And an Altean-human romance." Allura stood, stretched, and winked at her. "And a tall-short romance."

Pidge grinned and stood on tiptoes to give Allura a quick kiss. "I guess we break all the rules."

"I'm a princess," Allura said, kissing her back. "I decide what the rules are. And I grant you permission to break them—just this once. Now, it is my royal command that you go at least try on a dress or two."

"The salon first," Pidge said, glancing at her reflection in the blanked tablet screen. "My hair really needs some help."

Once they stepped outside, they realized they'd made a strategic error: the Malori had neither fingernails nor head hair. As Allura and Pidge's arms and legs lacked the Malori's brilliantly colored fur, the local salons were useless to them. "Oh well," Allura said. "At least they wear clothes."

The shopping center was a bewildering structure, its many floors linked by swooping ramps. They'd clearly come outside of peak hours, as only a few Malori walked or rolled through the building, robocarts trailing behind them to carry their packages. There didn't seem to be any such thing as gender on Malor; clothing was grouped by color and style, and everyone shopped everywhere. Most garments featured layers of draped fabric in muted tones that provided a frame and backdrop for the wearer's limb fur.

Eventually Pidge and Allura found a cluster of stores selling flowy one-piece items and decided those qualified as dresses. The Malori were shorter than humans and much shorter than Alteans, so hardly anything fit Allura, but Pidge loaded their robocart with a slightly embarrassing number of bags. A fringed garment made her shaggy hair look like a deliberate style; a fabulous wide-brimmed felt hat perfectly set off her glasses. "This is great!" she said, paying for yet another green dress. (She'd liked pink and blue before meeting her lion, but now she couldn't see herself in anything other than green.) "I used to have so much trouble finding grown-up clothes designed for someone short and, um, flat. But here it's like everything was made for me."

They were heading for a ramp when they heard plaintive whimpers coming from behind a large potted plant. They glanced at each other and went to investigate.

A young child crouched behind the plant. Pidge guessed e wasn't long out of infancy: e was barely two feet tall, eir purple limb fur looked downy and soft, and eir skull hadn't yet developed the curved ridges that distinguished Malori adults. E rubbed eir eyes and sniffled as the two women knelt down on the shopping center's garishly carpeted floor.

"Do you need help?" Allura asked gently. "Are you lost?"

The child nodded woefully. "Need Nene," e said, gulping back a sob. 

"I guess that's eir parent," Pidge said. "What's your name, kiddo?"

"Biso," the child said. "I don't like that one," e added, pointing to Allura.

Allura bit her lip, trying not to laugh. "That's okay," Pidge said. "You don't have to. Can I take you to find your Nene? I don't think you'll find em over here."

Biso stared at her for a minute, then repeated, "Need Nene."

Pidge slowly extended an open hand. "Come with me," she coaxed. "We'll find your Nene."

"Not that one." Biso frowned. "E too big."

"I'll stay right over here," Allura said. She scooted back against a wall, hunching down to make herself as small as possible.

Pidge shot her a nervous look. "I'd rather not be on my own here," she said.

"Then I'll stay well behind you," Allura said. "E's already so spooked, poor thing."

"I think I saw some kind of information desk behind the blue ramp," Pidge said. "Hopefully someone there can help Biso out."

Biso stood, rubbed eir knuckles across eir dripping nose, and took Pidge's outstretched hand. Pidge tried not to grimace.

Allura followed them at a distance as Pidge slowly led the child over to the information desk, where a worried-looking adult with dark purple fur was conferring with a uniformed staffer. The adult glanced up and then dashed over. "Biso!" e cried. 

Biso let go of Pidge and ran to the adult, yelling "Nene Nene Nene!" The adult scooped em up and clung to em, raining kisses on eir smooth bald head.

"I found em over there," Pidge said. "E just got a little lost."

"Thank you so much!" the adult exclaimed. "E does like to go exploring. You'll be a brave adventurer someday, won't you, Biso? But until then, stay closer to me, please." E hugged the child tightly.

"Nene," Biso explained, pointing to the adult.

"I got that," Pidge said, smiling. "I'm glad you have your Nene."

"Well, that was easier than I expected," Allura said, coming up to stand next to her. She took Pidge's clean hand and squeezed it. Pidge squeezed back. They watched Nene fuss over Biso, making sure e was unhurt, and then lift em high into the air, laughing with relief at their reunion.

For a moment it seemed to Allura and Pidge as though the ghosts of their fathers hovered near them. Pidge blinked back tears. Allura straightened her spine and lifted her chin. The knuckles of their clasped hands whitened.

Then Biso looked back at them and shook eir head. "Too big!" e said disapprovingly. "Bye bye."

The women jumped, startled, and then dissolved into giggles. "We are clearly breaking some extremely important rules," Pidge gasped. "I don't think even your royal highness can grant enough of a pardon."

"You deviant," Allura teased. "Taking up with... a _big_."

"Let's see if we can find a washroom," Pidge said. "My hand is sticky."

With the robocart trundling obediently behind them, the princess and the paladin went off in search of their next adventure.


End file.
